Mixes

Something very different here, but after listening through Byproduct’s latest Easy Evening set I couldn’t resist giving it some room on TYFTH. Anyone who has heard previous EE installments (or indeed the Assembly b2b with Alek Szahala) will know that Byproduct really has a knack for interesting/smooth mix connections, and this hour or so of easy listening is well up to the usual standards. I’ve heard some truly woeful attempts to mix complex ambient drum & bass in my time, so it’s a real pleasure to hear a deep set that’s been so carefully put together.

The mix covers all sorts of downtempo genres, from vaguely dubstep to vaguely chiptune, but my favourite track was probably the fantastic LSD (In Dub Live). Anyone looking for a chilled-out set, this is absolutely recommended.

  1. Tom Bragl – Zerochoice
  2. Rinneradio – Osaka
  3. Moog – Dadelos
  4. Tripswitch – Silver (OTT remix)
  5. Cyrex – Perspectives
  6. Deviant Electronics – Silverside
  7. Tom Bragl – Voiceless
  8. Aes Dana – Haze
  9. Hallucinogen – Solstice (In Dub Live)
  10. Lunar vegetarian – Final Level
  11. Hallucinogen – LSD (In Dub Live)
  12. In Flames – The Puzzle

Download here

HARD GEN III – RESURRECTION Promo mix by KohlSinistry

Kohl is back with an excellent new promo set of hard dance/NRG that features some absolutely blinding tunes. A few of the tracks are a little different to what we’re used to on TYFTH, leaning towards fairly gentle, melodic NRG, but things get nastier as the set progresses – the mixing is first class, and the atmosphere is really nicely developed throughout. If only the set could have been bumped up by 5 bpm or so, it might have made all the difference to an already nice mix. Instead, tunes like Falling Down sound quite slow, and this might end up being one to keep in reserve when you feel like a break from the higher bpms.

01. Kamui – Ghosts (Kohls Intro cut) [Hindsight]
02. DJ Husband – Real Life (Wragg & Log:One Remix) [Hindsight]
03. Soul-t vs Karpe-DM – Oceans (Nomad Remix) [PHD Digital Recordings]
04. DJ W – Value [Compulzion]
05. Danny V – Killa [Digitally Infected]
06. DJ Husband – Activate (Proteus Remix)‏ [Digitally Infected]
07. Lab 4 – Falling Down‏ [CD-R]
08. Lab 4 – Rapture (Hybrid 2006)‏ [CD-R]
09. Busho – Time (Dj Thera Remix) [Therabyte]
10. Chi-Gu Kom – Terminated [Empire Traxx]
11. Nutty T – Candyman (Chi-Gu Kom Remix) [Nutty Trance]
12. Geck-o – To The Core‏ [Theracords]
13. Dj Thera vs Geck-O feat Wackiejacky – Hysteria [Theracords]

I’m currently going utterly insane (mix-related woes, predictably), but here’s another set to check out courtesy of Dyzphazia. Supernova Remnant is his trance alias, and so here we have a mix that goes right through the genres from trance to freeform, via some drum & bass. I might not be the biggest fan of some of the styles here, but the mixing is absolutely fine and really blends it all together, smoothly progressing from ‘nice background music’ to ‘a set you can dance to’. The final quarter is where the freeform comes in, including my old remix of Hell’s Gate and a rather cheeky (but seamlessly put together) combination of Iron Squid and the Assembly 2010 edit.

  1. Yuri Kane – Right Back (original mix)
  2. Triple A – Winter Stayed (Armins On the Beach mix)
  3. Orjan Nilsen – Between the Rays
  4. Renvo – Breakout
  5. Sander Van Doorn vs. Afrojack & R3hab – Koko Prutataaa (First State BASHUP)
  6. Marcel Woods – Sunrise (Jonas Stenberg Remix)
  7. John O Callaghan & Betsie Larkin – Save This Moment (Gareth Emery Remix)
  8. Dash Berlin ft. Jonathon Mendelsohn – The Better Half Of Me
  9. Motorcycle – As the Rush Comes (Armins Universal Religion Remix)
  10. Andain – Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden’s Unplugged Mix)
  11. Dash Berlin – Til The Sky Falls Down (Dash Berlin 4 AM Mix)
  12. Aly & Fila ft. Jwaydan – We Control The Sunlight
  13. Commix – Japanese Electronics
  14. Rank 1 – L.E.D. Let There Be Light (Code 0 Remix)
  15. Terranaut – Remember Me
  16. CLSM ft. Stefan B – Drifting Away (Original Mix)
  17. Alek Szahala – Iron Squid (Dyzphazia’s Re:Assembly 2010 Edit)
  18. GULD – Requiem
  19. Re-Form – Silver Cube
  20. Zio – Hell’s Gate (Plasmadancer Remix)
  21. Nobuo Uematsu – J.E.N.O.V.A. (FFVII AC Version)

 Download here

Decion’s back with more Hard NRG, with enough filtered hoovers to keep us occupied until the next installment. I listened while making dinner and lost track of which tune was playing, but somewhere around the middle of the set an excellent breakdown was the standout for me. For those who like the occasional dose of Hard NRG, this comes as recommended as all of Decion’s sets.

01. Rodi Style – Crazy (Crazy Chris Remix)
02. Defective Audio – Control & FX
03. Random But Raw & DJ Serenity – The Condemned
04. Pure Perfection – Dirty Trick (Grady G Remix)
05. Defective Audio & Marc Johnson – Hyperscum (Grady G Remix)
06. Korrosive – Fear
07. Random But Raw – Illicin Sensations
08. Riggsy & Rembo – First Blood
09. Tortured Souls – Pride
10. Random But Raw – Pump Summat
11. Base Graffiti – Bamzooki (Grady G Remix)
12. Random But Raw – Day Of The Dead
13. Grady G – Yokel

Download (kuuntele)

Alek Szahala & Byproduct live at Assembly 2010 by FINRG Recordings

Coincidentally, I’ve had Byproduct’s tunes on almost constant repeat for the last week or so, and now along comes his jaw-dropping set with Alek Szahala. It was performed at Assembly (last year), and for anyone who remembers the days of trackers and 8/16-bit videogame OSTs this is an absolutely essential listen.

The set gradually builds up the bpm, ending with Alek’s demented Never Forget and Duck Tales remixes, followed by the highscore theme from The Great Giana Sisters (a track I could listen to for hours, it seems). What’s also really impressive is that their original tunes easily stand up to the melodies from heavyweights like Hülsbeck and Sakaguchi. I’d love to hear them take on some of Tim Follin’s tracks – LED Storm has been remixed to death, but an Alek/Byproduct version of that would be something to hear…

Anyway, I haven’t enjoyed a set this much for a very long time, and there are even edited versions of Maruuk and Iron Squid in here for the freeform-only crew.

01. Olof Gustafsson – Pinball Fantasies highscore (Alek Száhala Remake)
02. Byproduct – Culture 12
03. Pinball Illusions Intro (Paokala Remake)
04. Purple Motion – 2nd Reality OST (Byproduct remix)
05. Alek Száhala – Crystal Thunder
06. Kenny Chou – One Must Fall 2097 Title (Byproduct remix)
07. Chris Hülsbeck – Great Giana Sisters Cave Theme (Paokala Remake)
08. Paokala – Camelopardalis (Byproduct remix)
09. Byproduct – Vector
10. Byproduct – Ocean Planet
11. Quazar – Funky Stars (Original & Byproduct remix mashup)
12. Alek Száhala – Lost in Time
13. Byproduct – Platform
14. Byproduct – Bonus Stage
15. Iku Mizutani – Shatterhand final level (Falcon & Byproduct remix)
16. Chris Hülsbeck – Turrican II Intro (Byproduct remix)
17. Alek Száhala – Maruuk
18. Alek Száhala – Iron Squid
19. Chanel 5 – Never Forget (Alek Száhala Remix)
20. Yoshihiro Sakaguchi – Duck Tales Moon Theme (Alek Száhala Remix)
21. Chris Hülsbeck – Great Giana Sisters highscore (Paokala Remake)

This one passed me by a couple of months ago, but a new set from Alabaster is always welcome. Coming via Deep Sea, this was one of Alabaster’s recent ustream live sets, heavy on the cheerful UK hardcore and hard dance. Don’t be fooled by the dark opening (the ever-excellent Storm), as the rest of the set is very main-floor friendly with some harder tracks thrown in to keep the interest up. There’s some nice mixing here – the so-crazy-it-works combination of Super Mario and Hellboy stood out for me the first time around.

Take a look at the tracklist, and download here.

01. Pain On Creation & E-NRG – Storm
02. Dave Curtis – Awesome (Original Mix)
03. Manik – Skywalker
04. Kipster – Through The Portal
05. Steve Hill Vs Technikal – Impulse
06. BRK3 – C4ut1on
07. Organ Donors – Super Mario
08. Lab4 – Hellboy
09. DJ Gammer – Ambient Angels
10. Lost Soul – Dark Side Of The Moon (K Complex & Mark Ashley Remix)
11. Breeze & Kevin Energy – The Pendulum of Bass
12. Alabaster – Acid Maker
13. Synthwulf – Every Soul
14. Eryk Orpheus – Really Nasty
15. S3RL – Mozart On Crack
16. Sharkey, Eryk Orpheus & Kevin Energy – Hit Ya Hard
17. Shanty, Tazz & Concept – The Prophecy

Gaiaforce – Formless Infinity by Gaiaforce

Time to welcome another DJ into the group – none other than TYFTH crew member, Gaia! He’s been kind enough to let me know about his debut set, and I’m posting it up here as a very promising taste of things to come. I’m not sure many of us were brave enough to put our first ever freeform set online (Yamanote was my third, I think), but this one’s a really good effort.

Most of the connections could have used a little nudging one way or the other to get them nicely into line (nothing catastrophic, mind), but the final sequence of Pahus, Invoker, and Deus is absolutely fine, and works really well selection-wise, too. Another nice mix is the Lucia – Lush connection, quite a nice/suprising crossover there. As for the less successful side of things, the opening reminded me why I always start playing Aurora after the first ‘mini-break’ – utterly awesome the tune may be, but the intro can start to drag if you’re not mixing it with something else. Dryad Machine – Frozen Flame would probably have benefitted from a sneaky early fade out, but it’s great to see someone taking on the challenge of a nice long mix.

With this kind of tracklist and some of the more adventurous connections towards the end, the signs are there that Gaia(force) is definitely on the right track – the mixing and the ‘when to use which tune’ spider sense will only get better from now on, after all.

01 Cyrez & Nightforce – Endstille
02 Aryx – Aurora
03 DJ Noriken – Lucia
04 Pain on Creation – Lush
05 Alek Száhala – Dryad Machine
06 DJ Rx – Frozen Flame
07 Substanced – Aquarius
08 Grimsoul – Pahus
09 Betwixt & Between – Invoker
10 Alabaster – Deus

Sorry to bunch up the posts again, but here’s some of the stuff that another brutal week has stopped me talking about until now…

First of all, let’s keep the unbroken chain of mixes going with TYFTH regular Alderz’ very danceable Goa set. This one definitely leans more towards the mainstream, with some very catchy tunes that don’t seem a million miles away from commercial trance. I wasn’t too keen on tunes like the opening Altiga, but the set really gets into its stride in the middle section, even if it lacks the darker/deeper atmosphere of the new/old style material released on Suntrip Records.

Thanks to Aldz for letting us know about the set – I’ve already given it a couple of listens, and in the middle of all this freeform it’s definitely a nice change of pace (and nicely mixed too, I should add).

  1. Krunch – Altiga
  2. Earthing – Mystical
  3. Ovnimoon – Open 3rd Eye
  4. Wizzy Noise – Oceanica
  5. Domestic – Bloom On Day
  6. Etic – Wishes
  7. Wizzy Noise – Dreaming Machines
  8. Digital Tribe – On Time
  9. DNA vs Wizzy Noise – Restart
  10. Save the Robot – Off the Assembly Line
  11. Quadra – Chase the Sun
  12. Ultravoice vs Asax Syndrome – Ultrazax
  13. Jay Selway & Magnus – Stronghold

Download here

Custom Built DJs – The Free of Form Show Mix May 2011 by Custom Built DJs

Yet another mix to check out, this time a Free of Form set from Custom Built DJs. I must confess that I haven’t heard much CB material before, but some of the tracks are very promising, even reminiscent of some of Epyx & Cyrez’s Electronica Exposed releases. The first half is pretty much a Custom Built showcase, but after Noriken’s Fighting for Freed…sorry, Lucia, things take a deeper melodic turn with Aquarius, Aurora and Astraia.

I can think of a few DJs here who might find room in their sets for a CB tune or two, while for everyone else it might be nice to hear something a bit different to what we’re used to on TYFTH.

1. Epyx & Cyrez – Twisted Faith (Cyrez 2010 Edit)
2. Custom Built DJs – Going Down
3.Custom Built DJs – The Journey
4. Custom Built DJs – U Sure Do
5. Custom Built DJs – Fear of Conciousness
6. Custom Built DJs – Revenge with Honour
7. Sam One – Hypnotize
8. DJ Noriken – Lucia
9. Substanced – Aquarius
10. Aryx – Aurora
11. Alek Szahala – Astraia

That’s right, 2004….this Rx vs Proteus set rip has been floating around on YouTube for a while now, and it’s too good not to post up here. I was still mixing whale-noise drum and bass back then, so I sometimes forget that anthems like Man Eaten and Caballo were already out, but here they are alongside some other classic oldies. A few of the tunes are really familiar, but I can’t remember many titles – can anyone help with a tracklist?